Mahoning County earmarks all ARPA funds

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – It has been two and a half years since the Biden Administration released millions of dollars in aid to states and local governments.

Of that, $42 million was sent to Mahoning County, and as of now, all of those funds have been at least earmarked for local projects.

Thursday morning, county commissioners approved spending more than $32,000 on local agencies and communities.

“We received hundreds of applications, so as far as the county goes, we’re totally out of ARPA funds, so we still have some administration resolutions that we have to do on those later projects that were awarded,” said Commissioner Anthony Traficanti.

“The ARPA funds allowed the county to plug all those holes and make townships, villages, social service agencies, agencies in the county and different things that they would have never been able to receive funding for… we put it back into the community,” he added.

Regulations tied to the ARPA funds required that they be set aside for awards by the end of this calendar year.

The money must then be presented to local agencies or communities by the end of 2026.

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